The present invention generally relates to a throttle and shift control system for marine craft and more particularly for such a system for marine craft having two or more control stations at which throttle and shift control functionality is desired.
Many larger marine craft will often have more than one control station where an operator can control the craft. If full operation is to be carried out at each control station, then the shifting of the transmission among forward, neutral, and reverse operating modes must be possible, as must control of the throttle system of the engine or engines. There have been mechanical systems available in the past which carry out this functionality, but the mechanical linkages were often complex and cumbersome, particularly if the distances between control stations and the engine were great. Also, such mechanically complex systems for multiple control stations were usually quite expensive.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved shift and throttle control system for a marine craft having multiple control stations which is capable of providing control from any one of the stations, but which does not require the mechanical interconnection among the control stations and the engine or engines.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such an improved shift and throttle control system whereby the operating mode and throttle control can be carried out by a single pivotable lever arm at each station.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such a system whereby the control station that is selected becomes the master station, which then controls the shift and throttle speed, and the other control stations are controlled to have their lever arms in substantially the same position as the master during operation.
A related object of the present invention is to provide a master control selection switch at each control station which enables each control station to be selected as the master, with all others being slaved control stations.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a shift and throttle control system which reduces the activation distance of mechanical linkage.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide such an improved system which includes an engine warm-up switch that can be activated and which enables the master control station to have throttle control only, with the operating mode being neutral.